It’s not a good question to be asking, and it’s certainly not the right question to be asking, but one fairly common question asked by both advisors and clients is “How are they going to know?” The “they,” they’re referring to, is the IRS. For those that have ever wondered, here are the answers to seven common “How are they going to know” questions.
This is a reminder that not all 10% early distribution penalty exceptions apply to all retirement plan distributions. Here are the three biggest mistakes that we see.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks into 72(t) payments, CD-IRAs, and the once-per-year rollover rule.
It is not unusual to inherit an IRA from someone who is not your spouse. Many people inherit an IRA from a parent or a sibling. If this is the case for you, here are six things you will want to know.
1) There Are No Restrictions Preventing a Tax Break
When you defer a portion of your salary into a traditional 401(k), the amount deferred will reduce your taxable income dollar-for-dollar. This is true regardless of how much income you (and your spouse, if applicable) have. In contrast, contributions to a traditional IRA are generally entitled to a tax deduction as well, but if your income is above certain limits and you (and/or your spouse, if applicable) are an active participant in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, then that deduction can be reduced or eliminated. Thus, in some scenarios, a contribution to a traditional IRA won’t help you reduce your current tax bill.
On April 26, 2017, the Trump administration released its highly anticipated tax reform plan. The administration said the goals of the plan include growing the economy, creating jobs and simplifying the tax code. The changes proposed are significant and if passed (and that is a big “if”) could have a major impact on your retirement planning.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks into inherited IRAs, RMDs, illegal trades, and PLRs.
In two weeks I had three trusts come across my desk that were named as the beneficiary of the account owner’s IRA. The account owner had now died and the universal question was, “Now what?”
In 2014, the Tax Court in the Bobrow case ruled that the once-per-year rollover rule applies to all of an individual’s IRAs, not to each of their IRA accounts separately. The Court’s surprising ruling conflicted with a long-standing IRS position in earlier editions of IRS Publication 590 and in private letter rulings. Several years have now passed since this ruling, but there is still a lot of confusion out there about the stricter interpretation of the once-per-year rule. Here are 7 things you need to know to know about this rule that has tripped up many taxpayers.
This week's Slott Report Mailbag looks into still working exceptions, RMDs, and IRA transfers.